Diversity in the News

Baystate Health has been named a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” in the Healthcare Equality Index 2011 report. The report, published by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, details the results of this year’s Healthcare Equality Index, an annual survey administered by the HRC Foundation. Baystate Health earned top marks for its policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients and their families. Baystate Health was one of 87 survey respondents, representing 375 facilities rated in the report.

Baystate Health reaffirmed its commitment to hiring veterans in an event at Baystate Medical Center on March 11, 2011 detailing its work with the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces, a public-private partnership that connects veterans and current members of the National Guard and Reserves with civilian employment opportunities.

Baystate Medical Center hosted Jeffrey Simon, director of the Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment Office and representatives from the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) in September, 2010. At the request of Governor Deval Patrick, Simon was traveling around the state to see first-hand the impact of stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). One of his stops was Baystate Medical Center, where he learned about Baystate’s collaboration with MRC to expand job opportunities to persons with disabilities, making use of stimulus funding to support the program. Simon’s visit included a meeting discussion and tour of the BMC commissary, loading dock and kitchen.

Baystate Medical Center has achieved Top Performer status in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index 2010, rating it one of the top health care organization’s in the nation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) patients, families, and employees. BMC is one of 12 organizations across the country to achieve this distinction.

Baystate Health received the 2010 Employer of the Year Award from the Workforce Solutions Group, a coalition led by the Massachusetts Workforce Board Association, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Crittenton Women’s Union, and the Mass Communities Action Network, Mass Business Roundtable, the Center for Labor Market Studies and the Massachusetts Workforce Professionals Association, at the First Annual Massachusetts Jobs and Workforce Summit in June, 2010. Baystate Health was referenced as a “visionary” for their development of a 10-year workforce plan which includes a commitment to engage and collaborate with the entire community, including other employers, education, community organizations and workforce development agencies to address the critical healthcare labor shortage issues through innovative education and training solutions. At left, Jean Jackson, vice president, Workforce Planning, poses with the award.